NiRu nanoparticles encapsulated in a nitrogen-doped carbon matrix as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for the
Shikai Xu1, Zhiqiang Li1, Kainian Chu1
1Key Laboratory of Structure and Functional Regulation of Hybrid Materials, Anhui University, Ministry of Education, Hefei, Anhui 230601, People's Republic of China. zfcai@mail.ustc.edu.cn and Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei, Anhui 230601, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
The design and fabrication of low-cost, efficient, and robust electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is of great importance in accelerating the development of water electrolysis technology. Herein, NiRu alloy nanostructures embedded in a nitrogen-doped carbon matrix (NiRu@NC) have been fabricated through a facile metal-organic framework-derived (MOF-derived) strategy. Benefiting from their advantages in the unique structures and components, the resulting NiRu@NC possesses excellent activity and durability towards the HER, which exhibits low overpotentials of 85 and 53 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 in acidic and alkaline electrolytes, respectively. Furthermore, NiRu2@NC-600 also exhibits excellent hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) activity in an alkaline electrolyte. Therefore, this work provides a facile MOF-derived strategy for the design and synthesis of low-cost and efficient electrocatalysts for the HER.
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